Camden Gabriel is six months old today. 🙂 After completing one of my classes, I decided not to give Camden solids until he was at least 9 months old, but didn’t know what kind of impact that would have on his health.
I don’t have big babies. Morgan made it to 17 pounds at 12 months, Jared was 18 pounds at 12 months, and Elena was 15 pounds at 12 months.
I started giving the other children cereal and other foods at 4 months, as directed by their doctors as the typical schedule. Due to developmental reasons, Jared struggled with solids so didn’t actually get them until he was older, but because of milk production problems, he received supplemental formula when I wasn’t around. With Elena, I was so concerned about development, that I was happy to start the typical solids schedule.
To remedy their lower weights, doctors encouraged more solids.
But after reading so many things on delaying solids, thought I’d give this a shot.
Camden isn’t going to have a weight problem, at least not while on Mama’s milk. According to our baby scale, Camden weighs 18 pounds! I weighed him a second time just to make sure.
We’ve made it to six months on 100% Mama’s Milk. I’m also pleased because we were having some production problems in the beginning, but thanks to the advice of a Master Herbalist, my Naturopath, a Lactation Consultant, all my Doula friends, and Endocrinologist, we got things back on track.
My goal now is to breastfeed 100% until a year and continue breastfeeding until at least two years, or until the prince decides he’s done.
It could be “one of those things,” but there’s such a dramatic difference between Camden’s growth compared to his older siblings and makes me wonder, who decided the way we were created wasn’t adequate?
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So… Mason was 16 lbs at 3 months! =) I know, I just grow big babies! He is still 100% breastfed… although he does take a paci, he does not take a bottle… so I don’t even pump… he just gets it straight from me! He’s 4 months 8 days… not sure how much he weighs. His ped. told me to start giving him cereal at 4 months, but I haven’t. The little (BIG) guy can’t sit up on his own and is still developing his neck muscles, so I don’t see how feeding him a solid could be a good idea?!?!? Well, as you can see from his pictures, he is definitely well-nourished! And like you said, I’m pretty sure God knew what he was doing when he designed we mommies!
This is the first time I am doing 100% mama’s milk too! Ian is 7.5 months now, and doing great! My older babies would have been eating everything by now.
My goal this time was to wait until he had 4 teeth before any solids. He’s got two teeth so far but this week he has started “asking” for food so I am thinking an avocado might be in order.
Isn’t it funny how the doc’s encourage more of the wrong thing when there seems to be a problem? My 4 year old was having low weight issues and they kept telling me to feed her dairy and high fat- turned out she was lactose intolerant!
Stick to God’s plan, it is way better!
Ah, Jessica, did you read the book on Responsive Breastfeeding, too? I LOVED that book!
I’m curious what you did to increase your milk supply? My little girl is 5 months, and she is struggling to make it 3 hours between feeds. I tried solids, but they make her constipated. Any ideas?
Hi, Carrie!
I have thyroid problems, and when my dosage is too high, it causes supply problems. That was the first thing to get fixed.
I took Fenugreek, as well as drank several cups of Mother’s Milk tea and pumped in 10 minute sessions. I also continued to co-sleep, so that all of his sucking needs were met at the breast, not a pacifier.
Personally I think it’s the night time feeding that’s giving us such a boost.
I’ve read that the older the baby is, the harder it is to increase milk production. With my 2nd child, we had problems and it wasn’t addressed until he was 6 weeks old–my supply never recovered.
You can also find recommended books over to the right. There’s a book out there too although I’m not sure if I’ve added it yet called Making More Milk. It’s very good. I also highly recommend Breastfeeding and Fertility by Jenny Silliman (there’s a link to the book in the list to the right). At first I thought this book was only about fertility and breastfeeding but it covers so much, is a very easy read, and an overall sweet little book.
PS to Carrie:
The list of recommended books is on the main blog page.
Also I only pumped for one ten minute session each day.
The other side to this as well means that I have a deep freeze stocked with breastmilk!
Thanks so much for your help! I’ve thrown in 2 extra feeds today just to get by. Sophie is sleeping 12 hours at night and I really don’t want to go back to waking her for a feed. So, I’ll try expressing at night and see if that helps. Thanks for your suggestions!